The Texas A&M women’s basketball team will close out its home schedule on Sunday when the Aggies host the Baylor Lady Bears. The final game at Reed Arena is one of only two contests A&Mhas remaining this season prior to entering the Big 12 Conference tournament on March 11.
The Aggies (10-15, 3-11 Big 12) enter the game in search of an elusive conference win. A&M has lost its last three conference games, the most recent of which came on Wednesday at home against Oklahoma State University.
The Aggies were pummeled by OSU 68-48, largely due to A&M’s shooting only 35 percent from the field as a team. The win was the Cowgirls’ fifth straight at Reed Arena. Trisha Skibbe led OSU with 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Thia Willis added 21 points of her own.
“We just couldn’t score and we let them get on a tear,” said A&MHead Coach Peggie Gillom. “Two players nearly outscored us by themselves.”
A&M junior Toccara Williams was among three Aggie players with 10 points. Williams did extend her national lead in steals in the losing effort, bringing her career total to 335. Baylor’s Lady Bears boast an overall record of 17-9, but they have not fared much better than A&M in Big 12 play. All but one of their nine losses this season have come in conference action, with the most recent being a 79-57 thrashing by the No. 10-ranked Texas Longhorns.
Baylor’s troubles against UT came primarily in the second half. The Longhorns exploded out of the locker room, scoring 15 points in the first three minutes of play after the intermission.
“(Texas’) perimeter game has brought them so much more than they had last year,” said Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson. “Everybody looks to score.”
Baylor has plenty of scoring threats of its own. Steffanie Blackmon scored 20 points as one of three Lady Bears’ players to post double-digit points against Texas.
Amid frustrating seasons and with the Big 12 tournament looming, both A&M and Baylor will be looking to improve their tournament seeding.
Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.